


Never

by Yuval25



Series: The Story Of Us [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Peter Pan Fusion, Friendship, Lost Boys, Love, M/M, Magic, Never - Freeform, Neverland (Peter Pan), Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-13
Updated: 2015-02-13
Packaged: 2018-03-12 05:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3345266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuval25/pseuds/Yuval25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Severus visits Harry in Neverland.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Never  
> Beta: writhen heart

Severus lay back on the green grass and took in the smell of the fresh leaves and earth. It had rained a few hours ago, leaving the world glimmering with the raindrops that gathered on the leaves and rocks. The usual rainbow stretched over the horizon in a wide half-circle, coloring the sky in a full scale of purple to red.

It was calm as he lay there; the sound of the birds chirping around him, the splashing of the waterfall to his right.

And then, of course, was Harry.

"So I was thinking, we should go climb the mountains up north. It must have snowed yesterday, so they're covered in white. Oh, Severus, you wouldn't believe the snow! You know what snow is, right?" the boy asked, his green eyes catching the sunlight and flecks of gold appearing in them.

Severus looked up at the boy. "Naturally," he answered. One could not live in the Scottish highlands and not see snow.

"It's great, isn't it? Ever been in a snow fight?" Harry continued, oblivious to his surrounding, lost in his imagination. "I bet I could beat you in a snow fight. I am the bravest boy around here, after all."

"You really couldn't," murmured Severus lazily. Harry had no chance against his magic.

Yes, magic. Severus was a wizard. Actually, he was a teacher, who taught magic to young, undisciplined children. Well, potions. Way better than the unstable so-called art of Divination, or the laughable class Hagrid led, in Severus's opinion, though he wouldn't object to some spell-work every now and then.

"I bet I could. Care to put that to test?"

Harry was such a child. Such an innocent, wonderful child that acted a lot younger than his twenty years. Or was it a hundred and four? It was no wonder Severus loved travelling to Neverland so much. Despite the sleepless nights and suspicious looks when he failed to be found in his chambers after hours by a distraught McGonagall or advice-seeking Dumbledore, meeting Harry every night was possibly, probably, the best thing that has ever happened to the weary potions master.

"Maybe later."

"Ugh, you're no fun today, Severus. Where's your adventurousness?"

The boy leaned over him, and Severus closed his eyes against the tempting picture of that beautiful, pale face so close to his own. Harry's musky scent washed over him and he sighed. Oh, how he wished sometimes to lean into his desire, to embrace it and capture those luscious lips, to feel the flawless skin of his cheek against his hand, to weave his fingers through that unruly, dark hair, which could not be tamed.

"Severus?"

Alas, he could not, for Harry was just a boy. A boy who never grew up, whose age was nothing but a number in the face of his youthfulness, and still, just a boy, and barely over twenty. Severus, himself, was reaching his thirty sixth birthday with dire discontentment, while Harry stayed forever unchanging, forever in his prime.

He remembered the days when he was the younger one, when Harry seemed so big and mighty. Those days, Severus barely reached the height of Harry's shoulders. Now, he towered over him.

Harry was the one who stayed, so why did Severus feel like he was the one being left behind?

"Let's just rest today, Harry."

Harry released a groan and flopped down to lay on his stomach next to Severus, craning his neck to look at Severus with sparkling eyes and a heart-melting smile.

"Alright," Harry sighed softly.

Severus's eyes swept over Harry's back and those goddamn green tights stretching over his taunt arse. Lack of parental influence was clear in Harry's mannerism and choice of dressing. Like his ridiculous hat that was perched on his head, which didn't fail to stay on even through the boy's messing about.

Severus closed his eyes, and for a few minutes all was quiet.

Then a rhythm broke out, a small, steady shuffling of grass between leather boots. Harry tapped his foot on the ground, and soon enough started humming an unfamiliar, but most certainly off-tune nursery rhyme.

Severus groaned internally as Harry's voice became stronger. The boy did not have a shred of patience in his body.

"Harry."

The tune broke off, and even closed-eyed, Severus could feel those impossibly green, inquiring eyes on him.

"Kindly be quiet."

A sigh came from the boy's direction. "But I'm bored!" he complained.

Severus rolled his eyes behind closed lids.

"Amuse yourself."

"I am. You stopped me."

"Amuse yourself quietly."

"I'm going to climb that big tree."

Severus did not ask which big tree. There was always a big tree to climb, with Harry.

"Go on, then," Severus encouraged, hearing the satisfying shuffle as the boy stood up and walked to his tree.

Then it was groans and whoops and woo-hoo's.

Honestly, he preferred the quiet humming.

He cracked one eye open to see the boy directly above him, seated in a branch so up high it made Severus slightly dizzy just looking at it.

How on earth did the boy manage to climb up there so fast?

A nest of black hair appeared.

"Come on, Severus! Join me!" the boy shouted in excitement, his face red from climbing and his chest heaving as he panted.

"I am much too old for this," Severus grumbled to himself as he pushed himself up and to his feet. He could not deny Harry, though, try as he might. And it _has_ been long since he had climbed a tree with Harry. When Severus was as young as the boy, they used to practically live up in the trees.

He soon found the branch the boy had used to start climbing and squared one foot, grabbing hold of another branch that looked strong enough to support his weight. He wasn't as light as Harry, nor as experienced in tree-climbing.

He slowly climbed up a height he deemed high enough, which was about half as high as what Harry had managed, and sat down on a thick branch, looking out at the horizon, where mermaids were splashing each other playfully.

"It’s beautiful up here, isn’t it?" a voice came from behind him and he startled, turning around and clutching the branch he was gripping not to fall over.

Harry was perched on a branch behind and a little above him, grinning goofily at the potions master, as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Yes…" Severus hummed, taking in the sight of Harry's flushed face and laughing eyes. The boy really was beautiful.

"Makes you wish to live up here all the time, doesn't it?" Harry continued, seeming lost in thought. "The lost boys had an idea, to sleep up here in the trees."

No. That would be dangerous.

"We could build a tree-house, and live there. That way we'd be up in the trees all the time."

"Aren't you afraid you'd fall in your sleep?" Severus had to ask.

Harry chuckled. "You are forgetting, Severus, that I am not afraid of anything. I'm the bravest boy-"

"-In Neverland, yes, I know," said Severus with a somewhat smile. Harry never failed to remind him.

Harry lit up like a Christmas tree. He did so whenever Severus complimented him or admitted he was indeed very brave.

"But being brave and being dead because you fell off a tree are separate things," Severus had to reason. Or try to, anyway. Harry never listened.

Harry waved a dismissive hand. "I'll be fine. You could make the ground soft with your magic, couldn't you?"

Severus considered this. It was marginally better, if the ground did not create an impact that could leave the boy in a wheelchair.

"Perhaps, if you promise not to be foolish, I'll even build the tree-house for you," he compromised, knowing it was a long-shot.

"That's not fair!"

Severus smiled. Harry had a tendency to make him do that. Smile. It was a miracle, really. This boy was a miracle.

"Fine," Harry agreed eventually. "Pinky promise?" he asked, extending his pinky finger at Severus.

Severus rolled his eyes. Childish. "Yes, yes, whatever you wish."

He shook his finger with his own little one.

Whatever he wished, Severus would be there to make it happen. Forever and ever.


End file.
